The Chase
by equilateral-chainsaw
Summary: Kara only wanted to play hero, but now she was being chased by the most wanted man around.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Right, this story starts around chapter 19 of the book (Yeah, the book. Don't worry, everything except the ending is the same in the movie and the book, and I will only touch lightly on the ending) which is, er, the scene when the GD meets Pazzi. Without the little bit in chapter 21 (Where Lecter figures out that Pazzi knows who he really is) this pretty much follows book cannon. I think

Dr Fell was making his way around the crowded library, mingling with the guests, keeping an eye out for suspicious people. He knew he looked different from his 'old self'. His jaw was wider and his nose a different shape. But still…

As he passed a high book shelf, he heard a loudish bump, stifled by the orchestral music and the chatter in the large building already, and some cursing. The doctor had an inkling that this person would be a rather rude and ill-mouthed person. He despised people like that. But still, he put a small smile on his face and went to meet the source of the noise.

Rounding the bookshelf, he came face to face with this mystery person. It was a young girl, a rather scruffy one at that. Not to say she was wearing a brown sack and had lice crawling in her hair, but her plain black (Verging on grey) scraggly trousers and large fleece were very out of place in such a setting.

"May I help you?" He asked politely, his accent imitating the Florentine dialect perfectly.

"AH, I was looking for some books on _Cannibalism. _Maybe some on _Criminals_." She replied

She spoke in the same dialect that the doctor was using. She was evidently not Italian. Her lips moved awkwardly though smoothly as she spoke, as though she had rehearsed that phrase. It still didn't sound perfect though, there was a subtle accent that the doctor couldn't quite get.

His face was impassive, his eyes showed no new emotion, the faint smile was still on his lips. He wondered if he had time to kill her before his recitation.

"Yes, I believe it's just over there, let me show you" HE stepped lightly as he led the girl toward a deserted part of the library. As soon as the voiced began to grow faint, he pushed his arm against her neck and pinned her to the wall.

"Sprichst du deutsch?" He asked. Her face was blank

"Parlez-vous français?"

"Hablas español?" He tried. Her face was still blank."

"Do you speak English?" Was his last try.

The girl nodded. "Yes"

"In that case, I'll continue in English. Now, why shouldn't I kill you?" His arm pressed against her neck a little harder for a second, just to show her he was serious.

"Ow… look, I'm not here to kill you or anything. I just thought I'd tell you something. Rinlado Pazzi, that man over there. Short, wearing the faded blue suit. He's a copper and he knows who you are. But he's not after you for the police, he's doing it for someone else. I don't know who."

She had a relatively hard to place English accent. No cockney, scally, liverpudlian or anything in it at all. The only things that made it distinctive was the fact that her voice seemed to rise slightly at the end of sentences and that she didn't pronounce t or h sounds. Still, he didn't quite know what accent that was or what part of England it came from.

The doctor slowly loosened his grip

"Because you helped me, I won't kill you tonight. But don't feel as if you've survived. I've merely given you a little more time. It may be in a month it may be in a year, but I will come for you. And, remember, I always get my prey"

Then he walked briskly towards the crowd of people to start his speech. The girl stood against the wall for a while, breathing heavily. Then she walked toward the exit, muttering an old rhyme under her breath:

"I do not like thee, DR Fell.

The reason why, I cannot tell.

But this I know, and know full well

I do not like thee, Dr Fell"


	2. Chapter 2

AN, heh, I'm tired and waiting for someone to go online on MSN (Yep, SURE you're offline. I have the 'Appear offline' button too ya know!) so I decided to write the second chapter as well. This is before I've even posted the first one on Now I'm HOPING that this won't end up like all my other fanfiction that has been on hiatus for a year or so (Yeah, ok, I will update them… I WILL. I know I've been saying that for a year or so but still…) Now, onto the story

A year had passed since the doctor had met the girl and he hadn't thought of her since. He hadn't forgotten her, Lecter never forgets, he had just put her away somewhere in his memory palace. His mind was too full with happy memories of Clarice.

But then she'd left. He knew why, he'd known all along that was how she'd felt. After she left, the happy memories stopped coming. And, gradually, he started seeing Mischa again.

At one time, he felt angry, wanted to make Clarice pay. He went on the internet and set out to track her down. She was no longer Clarice Starling. She had joined the WPP and had become Melissa Harvards. But she had a new beau and a new life. He couldn't just go and kill her. So it was while he was depressed that the memory of the young girl came to him.

Hannibal went over and over it in his mind. Now seemed the perfect time to being the hunt. But where to start? He didn't even know her name.

The doctor went onto the internet and went on to a dictionary site that had recordings of various accents. It was divided into countries and regions and Hannibal went through all the ones listed for England, playing them on the computer as he player her voice in his head. Eventually, he came across one that sounded like hers. The raising the pitch of the voice near the end of a sentence and the missing out of ts and hs.

After he got this the rest was quite simple. He found out what county her accent was from. Then he pulled up a recent census and searched for girls born between 1986 and 1987. (A/N: The book was released 1999 and this is set a year later, 2000. Hannibal guessed the girl was around 12/13 when he met her, so he typed those dates in. Of course, this is pretty much all guess work he's doing) After that he started typing the names, followed by the name of their city or town, into an image search engine. His eyes darted across page after page of pictures until they stopped on one that bore a resemblance to the girl.

The person in the photo looked slightly different to the girl. A little older, a little taller. But she had the same bone structure, the same eyes. That was her.

"Hmm, Kara Finnley, born April the fifth, 1986. Currently resides in Cromer."

He shut down the computer and began making arrangements to get to Cromer. The hunt had begun.

A/N Yeah, it's a bit short. But some of Thomas Harris's chapters were half as long as this, so there.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Yeah, it's quite late and I'm like this 0.0. But I'm going to keep writing. I started this fic cos the story kept going over and over in my head. But now I'm writing it down, the next bit keeps coming louder and louder, so I have to write that too.

Kara pulled off the hair net and the white coat and stepped out of the fish and chips shop. Her skin was flushed and weaty, her clothes smelt of fish, her hair was damp with chip fat and she needed a shower

She worked in a chippie called 'Cromer's Greatest'. Most shops that have ''s Greatest' in the title are generally considered stupid and tacky. But Cromer's was actually renowned for being the greatest chippie around. Natrually, the place was busy all day and Kara didn't even manage a five minute coffee break.

Cromer's was so good because they used fish fresh from the sea. The fish were cut and skinned in the shop and then rubbed in good sea salt before being battered and fried. Kara rarely worked in the kitchen. Her boss, Brian, always put her on the counter, saying she was the beauty that got the custmers in and the fish was the thing that kept them there. But occasionally, when it was quite early and there weren't so many customers, he's show her how to cut the skin from the bone and how to rub the salt into certain places to ensure the flavour stayed. He was like a father to her, or maybe a granddad.

Kara entered the caravan park and walked towards the customer services block. Her friend Pollie, sitting behind a desk holding a magazine, saw her and waved.

"Your hair's all greasy you know" She said.

"Don't... start. Work. Busy. Tired. Smell. Shower. Now"

Kara reached for one of the keys on the wall behind the desk but was stopped by Pollie

"Nuh uh. Not until I get my payment"

Kara sighed and brought a package out of her bag. The smell of chips, vinegar and fish filled the air.

"Hadock?" Asked Pollie, attempting to look unbothered by this new aroma, though her stomach was grumbling.

"Yep. And a medium portion of chips with vinegar, no salt. You always ask me this."

Pollie smiled and laughed before giving Kara a key.

"There you go. And I got your washing done too. Collect it when you're done."

"Will do. Thanks."

Kara went over to the door that corresponded with the number on her key and opened it. She stepped inside and threw off her greasy clothes. She turned a knob and stepped under the shower head. As usual, Pollie had set it to just the right temperature.

As Kara washed, she thought about Dr Lecter, as she did once in a while. She hadn't heard anything of him for quite a while.

She was so naïve about going to Florence, to Dr Lecter. She hadn't intended to see him at first, she was just going on a week visit to Florence. She went with this children's group. The kids were meant to pay £20 for it, but she was a 'special' case. Meaning her and her mum were on benefits and she couldn't afford it. But they paid for her to go and she was pretty exited. But on the second night, while she was out on the balcony of her dingy two start hotel room, she over heard a conversation a man was having on his mobile. He was speaking in Italian first, though his words had a definite slur to them. Then he started to talk in English.

"Ah, you speak English? My name is Pazzi. Rinaldo Pazzi. Yes, yes, it's him. Lecter. He's the new Currator for the Palazzo Capponi. I spotted him, I did." He was talking quite loudly. "Yeah, I'll investigate more. I'm there in a few days for his big event. Yeah, police busness. Drunk? You're calling me DRUNK? When I get to you I'll" The person on the other line had obviously hung up. Pazzi said what appeared to be some swear words in Italian and then walked off, falling noisily as he did so.

Kara felt strange. She had heard everything. She was now part of this web. But what could she do? A plan hatched in her head. It was a stupid plan really, but it was a plan none the less.

The next morning, she asked the tour guild (named Jean) if the group could visit the Capponi Library that day. Jean was surprised at this. Kara hadn't been enthusiastic about anything so far on the trip. She readily agreed and the group spent the morning there.

Kara found the place dull and boring, but she pretended to be interested. After all, she was the one whio asked if they could go there. She had really only wanted to go so she could figure out how to get there and so she could find out exactly when the 'big event' was happening. It turns out that the library was relatively near to her hotel. It was only blocked from the view of her balcony by a large bank building.

She pretended to read the books as she searched for something about the event. It was a bit hopeless though. Any leafet would be in Italian. She had almost given up when she noticed something tacked to the door of the entrance. On it was a message written in many different languages. Italian, Chinese, French, German… Kara scrolled down until she found it in English:

NOTICE:

The Palazzo Capponi will be closed early on Thursday the 12th due to a private function.

Please vacate the building by 5.00pm.

Dr Fell,

Curator

Kara checked the date, that was the night before she left Italy. She would be able to sneak out of the hotel and tell Dr Fell about that rogue copper.

For the next few days, she scowered her Italian phrase book to find out what to say. 'I'm looking for…' and 'Maybe some on' where very easy to find. They were in the list of phrases for The supermarket and the Library. Criminal and cannibal were harder. They weren't in the little dictionary at the back and Kara had to borrow Jean's Oxford Italian Dictionary.

When Thursday night came, she waited until around 8.30. Then she pocketed her room key and set off towards the Palazzo Capponi.

She came back at around 9.15. At first, what the doctor said hadn't really set in. But when it did Kara realised how stupid she'd been. She was now going to be killed by the most wanted man around just because she felt like playing hero. Great.

But when she got back, she had to push her worries to the back of her mind. She had more important stuff to worry about. Her mum had decided to push off, leaving a note to Kara that she met a new man who could show her the world.

Kara finished her shower and dried herself. She put on the dressing gown and her shoes, not wanting to wear her smelly old clothes.

She walked past Pollie, slinging the key onto the desk. Pollie, mouth stuffed with chips, shouted something like "Your washing!"

Kara doubled back and picked up the bag of clothes behind Pollie's desk.

"Heh, thanks again. Enjoy the chips"

Kara stepped outside into the dark caravan site. She made her way to her own dinky caravan and unlocked to door. She had lived in this van all her life. But it seemed a lot less like home now her mum wasn' there. She plopped the bag down and stumbled forward onto her bed.

She knew Lecter would come, but for now, she would carry on as normal.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N This was written the morning after the previous chapters were, cos it was 4.30am and I wanted to sleep. So I did. Now on with the story.

Hannibal Lecter stepped into a coffee shop in Norwich and sat in a corner out of the way, listening. He was listening to the people speak, trying to understand the accent. After about an hour, he managed to imitate it perfectly, so he walked to thde train station and got a ticket to Cromer.

Kara was at work the next day when she first heard something strange was amist. She was about to get off for lunch and, having worked for the past five hours, was exasted.

"There's a strange man come to town." Remarked Brian as she started untying her apron.

Suddenly, Kara was wide awake.

"Really? What was he like? Why was he strange? When did he come?"

Brian was slightly puzzled by her sudden panic, but he answered the questions anyway.

"He seemed like a model citizen. He came here last night as we closed and talked to me. He said he was a journalist and wanted to know all about this place. So I says, I says '"Cromer's is the best chippie around, that's all everyoens ever needed to know"' and he asked me why it was so good. I was clever though, I knew he was after my recipe so I says '"That would be ol' Kara, our young server. She lives in the nearest caravan park and she's a treat with the customers, she is"'"

Kara went pale, she knew that was the doctor, it couldn't be anyone else. She couldn't blame good-willed Brian. He probably thought he was doing some good.

"Right, well, I'll be off home for my lunch, I'll be back in an hour, probably less, ok?" She could barely walk as she made her way to the caravan site. First stop was Pollie. The found her sitting at the Information desk, as usual. Kara wasted no time.

"Did a strange man come here last night?" She asked bluntly

"Hmm, strange? Well, I wouldn't call him strange. He was a bit different though. Seemed a bit too posh to be renting a caravan"

"He rented a caravan#? Which one?" Kara's heart was beating fast.

"It was one near you actually. He said that was the one he wanted. He must be one of those regulars who comes here every summer to the same caravan. He chose the Platinum pakage, so he must have been rich"

Kara's caravan was different to the others. The ones for rent had a toilet and a shower and were very big and cemented to the ground. Hers was the type that was meant to go on the back of a car. The caravan park had a system of packages ranging from bronze (Pretty plain. TV, two bedrooms, toilet, no shower. The usual holiday package) to platinum (Large, fully working bathroom, stocked fridge, gift basket, good shampoo. Quite costly)

Kara walked off without another look at her friend. She rounded a corner and leaned against the brick wall of the centre, breathing deeply. Once she was calm, Kara set off towards her caravan,

She didn't really look at the other caravan that she now knew housed the cannibalistic doctor. She managed to cast a sideways glance, but no more.

Kara went inside her 'van and decided what to do. She couldn't leave with a big rucksack or a luggage bag, it would be too suspicios. He would know.

She cast around the dinky caravan until her eyes rested on a small fashion rucksack. She rolled some pairs of knickers into tight balls and layed them out evenly across the bottom of the sack. Then she proceeded to roll up two tops, a pair of shorts, some trousers and a large white men's shirt. Her pack wasn't completely full, but Kara needed it to look as if there wasn't much in there. She didn't want to arouse suspision. She undid a sock ball and carefully lad two trainer socks on top. She could still close the zip easily, which was good.

Lastly, she went over to the little baked bean tin and took out the wad of £20 notes. There wasn't much, no more than £300, but it would get her on a ferry somewhere. She carefully put it into the front pocket of her back pack, making sure it didn't bulge out.

And then she was all packed.

Kara was about to leave when she realise dshe would need her fleece. Lecter was probably spying on her right now. It would look ok if she left with the bag, but not if she wore a huge fleece too. Kara brainstormed quickly until an idea cam eot her.

She opened the caravan door and stepped out. Then she faked a shiver and rubbed her arms as if it were very cold outside. Then, as if as an afterthought, he went back inside and came out wearing the fleece. She swung the little backpag loosely over her shoulder and started walking away towards Cromer's again.

She wouldn't go inside, she just needed to look as if that waa where she was heading. As soon as the caravan park was out of site, she walked a little faster.

Kara tried to look inconspicuous as she passed the chip shop. She didn't want to have to say goodbye to Brian.

But he saw her anyway. He motioned to her to come over to him.

"Ah" He said, eyeing her bag and fleece. Most people would think the looked normal, but Brian knew something was up. "I see. You're off. It's that man isn't it? Yes, I noticed your face when I told you about him. I love you like you are my own Kara, but I worry about you just as much too. I'll come with you"

Kara looked at him, wishing that he could "Don't be silly, you have to look after Cromer's. I'll be ok."

Brian sighed.; "you're right. Well, I'll be with you in spirit. Wait a sec" He dashed into the shop and opened the till, taking some money from it.

"Here, this should help you out. The next ferry leaves in a few minutes, get on it and don't look back. I'm sorry I helped him find you, I…"

"He would have found out anyway, don't worry. I'll send you a postcard, maybe" She hugged him and then proceeded to walk to the ferry

Kara booked a ticket on the next ferry, but refrained from actually getting on until it was the final bording. She was going to stand watch in case Lector decided to follow her onto the ferry. Yes, she realised that she probably wouldn't recognise him. And he probably wouldn't be looking suspicious or anything. But Kara kept a look out none the less.

Luckily, no one else (save two elderly ladies and some ready-to-party teens) came onto the ferry and, as the captain rung the bell, she hopped onto the ferry.

To hell with letting him find her. She was going to provide a chase.


End file.
